


Can He Love a Dragon?

by Booklover20



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Mates, Shapeshifter, more tags to come, same adventure with surprises along the way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2018-09-23 23:05:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9686129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Booklover20/pseuds/Booklover20
Summary: Bilbo is like any other hobbit. He loves to cook food, sit in front of the fire and read a good book, take care of his plants in his garden, and eat, of course. There is only one thing that sets him apart from the rest, he is a shapeshifter.





	1. The Awakening

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. 
> 
> Also, this is not beta-read so sorry for any mistakes in the story. >.<  
> Sorry it is so short, the chapters will get longer as the story goes along!

Bilbo is like any other hobbit. He loves to cook food, sit in front of the fire and read a good book, take care of his plants in his garden, and eat, of course. There is only one thing that sets him apart from the rest, he is a shapeshifter. He is not like other shapeshifters either though. He is a special kind of shifter that is only found in a certain part of the world. He can shift into many different forms, but each of the shifters can. They each have their own special forms and none are the same. Then, there is the last transformation, which is the transformation you can only get by meeting one's mate. 

  
The animals he can turn into is enough and they have gotten them through many sticky situations he used to get into all the time. The other hobbits don’t know that he is a shapeshifter or they might be terrified of him because he seems different to them. He doesn't mind and is usually left alone. He has met many different hobbits while he lived here and the most memorable ones were Belladonna and Bungo Baggins. They always came over to his home and made sure he always ate, and they would bring him sweets and smiles as friends. The that one winter came when Bilbo could not save them from the wolves. Bilbo sits down to think about them and remember the good times instead of the bad times. The bad times usually put him into a sadness that sometimes took a while to get out of. 

Bilbo likes his peaceful life, but sometimes he does yearn for adventure. Then, just as luck would have it, one of his old friends asks for him to go on an adventure of great magnitude. He doesn’t answer right away, of course, because a respectable hobbit would cringe from adventure, but he isn’t a respectable hobbit anyway.

  
That afternoon Bilbo goes to the market and shops for items to cook for his guests. He may not be a respectable hobbit, but he knows how to be a host. He used to host everything for his family. They would always get together with more like them and feast. Bilbo threw the most fantastic of feasts. He loves to cook and everyone loves his cooking.

  
He wishes for those days again. He wishes that he still had days like that, but he knows nothing will bring his family back. His home and life were ruined that day. Bilbo shakes his head to clear up the bad memories and continues his shopping. Hobbits in the marketplace wave to him while others look away from him either from fear or from suspicion. Hobbits are a nervous race, but Bilbo couldn’t be happier anywhere else. This land is peaceful and is better than other lands he has been to. He has been to many lands and there are no lands like those of the Shire.

  
Bilbo gets home and starts to cook for his guests. He makes a lot of everything. There are biscuits, sausages, gravy, chicken, chili, broth, vegetables, and of course desserts. For the desserts he makes chocolate covered in chocolate icing, his famous apple and peach pies, along with chocolate chip, raisin, and snickerdoodle cookies. His guests will never go hungry.

  
That night, 12 dwarves show up at his home. Bilbo had not run into dwarves in his travels before, but these dwarves grew up apparently with no manners. The first dwarves to show up seem okay and are relatively nice. They set their things in a pile close to the door like he asks and he answers the door as more dwarves come in to his home. He usually is not fond of having guests over because he always has to hide his true self from anyone that walks in that door.

  
The two boys that show up next are the ones that break his heart. These boys should not be going on this journey. Nope. One is older than the other but the youngest is barely out of childhood according to dwarf customs. Bilbo has a lot of time on his hands, he reads about a lot of things. Even things he knows he isn’t supposed to read. Like Dwarven books. He hordes books, he can’t help it. He needs something to do in his lifetime. Books are always an adventure. They take him to different places and help him forget the horrors from his past.

  
The rest of the dwarves show up in a heap on his doorstep with Gandalf right behind them smiling to see Bilbo and possibly seeing the dwarves fall. Bilbo can’t help but chuckle and he lets them come in. 

 

"Please, come in. You are welcomed to my home." Bilbo bows at the waist and the dwarves look at Bilbo like he is first person that has done that since they left their mountain. Gandalf knows that these dwarves are from the Blue mountains that are not too far from his home. He can smell the mountains on them, but he knows their true home will always be The Lonely Mountain. 

The dwarves leave their things by the door as Bilbo requests and they make themselves home. He smiles because he finally has a full house. He has not had one of those in a long time. His long life has been a lonely life and this adventure is something that he needs. He wants to help these dwarves get their home back because he will never get his home or family back. These dwarves may have lost family along the way, but at least they are together now and are working to make the best of what has happened to them. 

  
As he is talking to Gandalf about the dwarves in his home, there is a knock on his round, wooden door. He notices the boys, Kili and Fili, come up and look excited over who is at the door.

  
“Ah, Bilbo, that would be the leader of this group,” Gandalf opens the door, “Thorin Oakenshield.”

  
When Gandalf opens the door all the way, Bilbo sees this gorgeous dwarf with raven black hair and silver streaks in it. He looks at Bilbo with cerulean clear eyes and a face to die for. Bilbo has never seen a better looking dwarf, of course he has only seen the ones in his house. Thorin has the right amount of bulk and thinness to him that a shapeshifter could get used to.

  
“So, this is the hobbit, he looks more like a grocer. Tell me, what is your weapon of choice?” And…he just had to open his mouth. 

  
“I’m not sure why that is relevant at this point.” Bilbo exclaims while looking at this very rude dwarf. 

  
“Are you telling me that you don’t know how to use a weapon?” Thorin wonders if they should even bring this Halfling along.

  
“Now, I did not say that Oh, King Under the Mountain,” Bilbo exclaims while wagging his finger at the King.

  
Thorin looks shocked because he probably has never had anyone speak to him that way, but Bilbo is not just going to stand by and let someone walk over him just because he is small and looks nonthreatening. Bilbo might be small, but he can become many animals of the animal kingdom. He loves his animal forms and he shifts every day to make sure he doesn't get rusty. He is glad that his age does not affect his transformations, and he can still transform like he was his younger self again. By this time, the silence has heated and it feels like Bilbo and Thorin are throwing sparks between them. 

  
“Well, now that we have that out of the way, why don’t we go and finish the dinner that Bilbo made for us,” Gandalf, always the peacemaker, says. They walk to the dining room with Bilbo trailing behind to not get in anyone’s way and he stops to look at the mirror in the hallway. Bilbo reels back. His eyes are glowing, and that only means one thing: he has a new transformation on its way.

  
Bilbo calms his nerves and goes to the washroom to cool off his face. He has been through this before and it will not scare him now. He holds on to the sink and looks at his eyes in the mirror in the washroom. His eyes are starting to go back to their regular color, but he will have to keep his anger in check just in case of it happening again. Which might not be as easy with Thorin around. That dwarf is so rude and has no respect for someone who he deems to not be worth his time. Bilbo breaths through his anger again and he feels his anger and eyes go down. He is a little old though to be having another transformation happen now, though. Something or someone brought this transformation on.

  
By the time he makes it to rejoin the group they are looking over a map that looks to be the map to the mountain with a red dragon near it. Although, Bilbo knows that there is a red dragon inside too. His name is Smaug. Most people believe him to be dead because he has not shown his face in 60 years, but Bilbo would know if that dragon passed on. The world would definitely change if he was dead. Bilbo would be able to feel it, and he hasn’t felt any changes to the earth. He has not heard anything from the wind or seen anything in the skies change. He knows Smaug is still alive. He is not going to tell that group this because then they would not want to free their home. Everything happens for a reason.

  
“Bilbo, are you alright?” Bilbo turns his head to Bofur, who asked the question.

 

“Yes, Bofur, I am quite alright.” Bilbo swears there are two of him now. In fact, all of the dwarves have doubled. 

 

“We are talking about Smaug the Terrible. Claws like meathooks, fire like a furnace, extremely fond of precious metal..”

  
“Yes, I know what a dragon is. Thank you.” Bilbo starts to feel faint. This is not normal and he grabs onto the wall next to him. The room is spinning and the dwarves in front of him look worried. 

  
“Bilbo, my dear fellow, are you alright?” Gandalf asks reaching out a hand to him. Thorin is next to him and looks worried too, but what could he be worried about? 

  
At this point, Bilbo faints and everything turns black.


	2. The Second Transformation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
> 
> Sorry about the short description, also. I am not good at descriptions.

Bilbo can still hear everything that is going on outside of his head. He hears some of the dwarves gasp as he falls to the floor. He feels arms catch him, but they don’t feel like Gandalf’s arms. Unless Gandalf suddenly has muscles he doesn’t know about.

“Carry him this way, to his room.” He hears Gandalf like he’s far away.

What is going on? Why did he faint? A new transformation shouldn’t make him faint. There is only one transformation that can do that. Soul mate transformation. His kind only faints with a new transformation if their soul mate is around.

The arms carry him and gently lay him on his bed where the covers are laid on him, but he starts shivering. It’s already at the fever stage. This transformation is coming on quickly, and he doesn’t know what he will turn into. He hears Gandalf quickly shoo the dwarves out of his room and puts a hand on Bilbo’s head. Bilbo sighs into the touch and his fever doesn’t seem so bad. He relaxes and lets the fever and sleep take him.

 

** Thorin’s POV: **

Thorin didn’t know why the hobbit just fainted. He looked fine and then he just collapsed. If he didn’t catch him in time then there is no telling how much damage the hobbit would have suffered. The hobbit was light in his arms as he carried him to his room. He could feel the other dwarves at his back and after he lays the hobbit down, Gandalf shoos them out of the room and shuts the door.

Thorin tells the group to go back to the dining room and clean up the dishes for their host. As the group heads back, Thorin can hear Gandalf say something, but he can’t hear it clearly enough to really pick out what he says. He decides to not worry about it and walks to where his dwarves are doing the dishes and watches them from afar. He has mixed feelings about this adventure, especially for his sister-sons coming along. They are so young and yet, they are going on their first adventure. His sister was not happy when they told her that they wanted to go. They are so excited to do this, but there are times where Thorin wants to tell them to go home.

Kili comes to stand next to him, “Is Bilbo going to be okay?”

“I am sure he is fine. The story about the dragon probably scared him and he fainted.”

Kili nods and walks off to talk to his brother who is cleaning a dish and lets him know about Bilbo. This puts more thoughts into his head. The hobbit is very small and he might have stood up to him at the door, but if a dragon makes him faint then should he be going on this adventure with them?

Thorin will say though that the hobbit is nice to look at. His curls are bouncy, his cheeks are rosy, his eyes are like galaxies, and his ass is to die for. Thorin grunts and shifts where he is standing, hoping no one notices the problem he is having.

He watches as the dwarves put the furniture back where they found it and they all move to the living room. Some of them take out their pipes, Ori takes out his sewing kit, Kili and Fili are fighting over a spot to sit in, Bifur and Bofur are carving figurines, and Nori is cleaning his knives. The group is relaxed like nothing could ever happen here in this land and Thorin didn’t blame them.

This land definitely feels different than the other places they have been to. The hobbits might be suspicious of their group, but none of them turned them away. Bilbo does seem different than the other hobbits, but Thorin doesn’t know why this is. Then again, Thorin has not met a lot of hobbits.

Thorin starts to sing the song about his song and the others follow suit, and the night ends with the dwarves finding and sharing rooms for the night in their host’s home.

 

** Other part of the house: **

Gandalf listens to the dwarves while he watches over Bilbo. He has a fever and is clenching his fists and moving around on the bed. Gandalf knows that Bilbo is starting his mating transformation, but he does not know who could have brought this on. There must be someone in the group that triggered it and Bilbo will want to know soon before his transformation is complete. Shifter’s mating transformation can last a few weeks to a few months depending on the mating. If the mates love each other deeply then the transformation will not last long, but if they are complete strangers then the transformation can last a while.

Gandalf holds a hand to Bilbo’s head and speaks soothing words to calm down his mind and body, hoping to help him sleep a little more tonight. The hobbit will need it for the adventure and transformation to come.

As dawn gets closer, Bilbo starts to wake up and Gandalf watches as Bilbo’s hands start to shift. Bilbo wakes up completely to see his hands fully turn into dragon claws. Bilbo gasps and stares at Gandalf.

“What does this mean Gandalf?” Bilbo clenches his new claws and winces as the new claws scratch his arm a little.

“This is your new form, Bilbo,” Gandalf looks sad as he says this, like he knows something.

“What animal has this kind of claw?” Bilbo stretches his claws in front of him. They are a gorgeous red-violet honey color while the nails are raven black and very sharp.

“That, would be the claws of a dragon.” Gandalf gets up to pour Bilbo some water.

“Gandalf, I cannot be a d-dragon. I had to have met my mate here and the last thing they want as a mate is a shifter who turns into a dragon.” Bilbo takes the cup from Gandalf slowly so he doesn’t scratch him or Gandalf with his new claws and drinks it with gusto.

“Now, don’t say that. These dwarves are a hearty bunch and they would not do that.”

“How can you know that? A dragon took their home from them! They wouldn’t want a dragon as their mate! Especially one that looks like me!” Bilbo relaxes back into the pillows and looks down at his claws again. At least they are going down now and he should get his hands back soon.

“Bilbo, you need to control your emotions. The stronger your emotions get, the harder it will be to transform.” He looks at Gandalf with an exasperated expression.

“Trust me, I know. I saw my eyes last night. What I want to know is why my mating transformation made me pass out.” Bilbo runs his now-hands through his curls and looks up at Gandalf expectantly.

“I would say it is because it is such a big transformation. You are going from hobbit form to a dragon form. It could be too much.”

Bilbo sighs, “I hope that this doesn’t happen every time a new thing comes up. I can’t keep passing out and prove to be a problem for the group.”

“We will worry about that later. It could just be this first part of your transformation.” Gandalf watches as Bilbo gets out of the bed to change and freshen his face from a bowl that he set out last night.

“Then I will not worry about this right now. I am starving and need food.” Bilbo walks out of his bedroom, wandering who carried him there, to find food. He gets to his kitchen and finds everything is clean and has been put up in areas he wouldn’t put things in, but he appreciates the dwarves for doing this while he was indisposed.

Bilbo sets out biscuits and jam along with eggs for protein. He knows that they need to move on this morning and start the adventure, but he needs food before anything. A mating transformation takes a lot out of shifters. He sets about eating his food when something starts to feel off. He looks outside to see Thorin and Dwalin practicing. He watches them parry and defend while he keeps munching on his food, and he appreciates the way their muscles flex and the looks in their eyes as they play fight with one another. The two have been together for a while and seem to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

He can hear more movement in the house, and he knows the others are putting their bags together before they set out. He is happy that he did that the day before especially since last night set him back more than it should have. His shifting will now be out of sorts and he may not be able to shift when he needs to or he may shift when he doesn’t want to. Which might explain why he feels off right now. The next thought leaves his head as his entire body shifts and he is now an otter.

His honey-colored fur is bristling when Gandalf walks in and he stops short. “Bilbo, why are you in your otter form?”

~It’s not like I want to be in this form. It’s part of the mating transformation process. We may not be able to hold forms or be able to can control when we do transform.~

“Ah, that is some new information,” Gandalf leans down and picks Bilbo up to put him on the table to finish his breakfast before the others come into the kitchen. Bilbo keeps chewing on his breakfast and tries to finish fast before he either returns to his hobbit form or before the dwarves decide to come into the kitchen. Right before he finishes his breakfast, he hears Thorin and Dwalin make their way back to the house.

Gandalf watches as the otter squeaks and runs in circles trying to find a place to hide himself. Before Bilbo can jump off of the table to do just that, he transforms back and is sitting on the table as the dwarves make their way into the back door. They stop short at seeing their host sitting on the table instead of one of the chairs aligning the table.

“Uh, good morning.” Bilbo slides off of the table and sits in the chair in front of him which isn’t as graceful as he thought it would be. His feet do tend to get in the way sometimes.

“Good morning, burglar.” Well, at least he isn’t calling him a Halfling.

“We are leaving this morning, yes?” Thorin nods, still staring at the table where Bilbo was sitting and Dwalin knocks him from behind to get his words to work more.

“We will be leaving soon in fact, so be ready.”

“I already am, but thank you for the concern.” At this point, he hears two sets of feet running down the hallway.

“Bilbo!” That would be Kili.

“Are you okay?” That is Fili.

Bilbo turns his head to the two boys and smiles at their concerned question, “Of course boys, I must have done too much yesterday and it all caught up with me. I apologize if I scared you.”

“As long as you are feeling up to leaving today, I am sure uncle can wait another day before we set out.” Kili looks to his uncle and looks at him with puppy-dog eyes before setting his eyes back on Bilbo.

“I believe that I am more than okay with leaving today.” The boys look at Bilbo to make sure he isn’t lying and when they see whatever they want to see, they take off back down the hallway.

Bilbo gets up and turns to the two dwarves still standing in the doorway, “Well, if you will excuse me, I need to finish packing.” They nod and he sets off back to his room.

 

** An hour later: **

The entire group is outside the stables and climbing onto horses before setting off when Bilbo feels something off again, but this time doesn’t feel like last time. Hopefully, he doesn’t transform because that would be hard to explain. He knows that he needs to explain what he is before they get too into the adventure, but he wants to make sure that the group will not abandon him before he does.

Thorin’s horse walks beside his when he says, “Don’t fall behind burglar. We will wait for no one.”

Bilbo scoffs, “We will see who falls behind, king.” Bilbo lightly digs his heels into the horse and she starts to walk off before the king can say anything else and irritate Bilbo even more.

He hears the boys snicker not too far behind him and they catch up to him as the rest of the group starts moving. “You know, Bilbo, no one has talked to uncle that way.” Kili states as he comes up to the left of Bilbo.

“Well, then he will get used to. I will not let him look down to me.” Fili comes up on the other side and says, “I don’t think he means to, he just does not know you.”

“Like you boys do?”

“We think that there is more to you than you actually show, but we don’t know what it is yet.” Fili is very perceptive and that scares Bilbo a little. He hopes the boys do not find out what he is before he is ready to tell the group. He really doesn’t want them finding out about his mating transformation.

“I am not sure about that, but thank you for the thought that there is more to me.” Bilbo smiles and stops the conversation by pulling ahead of the group. He wants to talk to the rest of the group and gain their trust, but he needs time to himself for the time being before he does that.

There will be plenty of time to talk to them along the journey and Bilbo decides to walk quietly for a little while before he talks to the others in the group. Which turns out to be a good thing because something unexpected happens: the next part of his transformation. He feels it before it happens and has time to fall behind the group before it happens. Some of the group notices him falling behind, but they don’t say anything as they notice that he is still a good distance close to them.

Bilbo looks down and his hands shifts into claws, but this time his arms start to transform. They bend in ways that are not normal for a hobbit form and proves to be difficult to hold on to the reigns. Bilbo lets go of the reigns as Gandalf comes up beside him and holds them to lead the horse. Bilbo gives him a slight smile and puts his claws behind his back before the group can see them, hoping no one will look back to see anything.

“This is going to be difficult Gandalf. I am not sure how long this transformation will take and how many times I will be transforming before I get into my final form.” Bilbo shakes his head as Myrtle starts to feel nervous below him. He should have known that she would be able to feel something off, but he hopes that she does not decide to knock him off and run.

“Everything will happen as it will and we will handle it as it comes.” Always with Gandalf and his words. No matter how old Bilbo gets, he still doesn’t understand them and they keep walking with the group along the hilly pass.


	3. Trolls and Snakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY! I'm so sorry I have been gone so long! I had some things to take care of after I graduated and I finally have time to sit down and type this up! *bows repeatedly*
> 
> This is not beta read! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.

 

As they reach their destination at a burned down farm, Bilbo can feel something awful about the area. There was something heavy here and it didn’t settle well in his stomach. He was old and he knew when he should not be somewhere and this was one of those places. The farm house on the property was burned and wood was hanging from the ceiling, if you could call it that anymore since there was nothing but sky in the house. Then there were the marks on the ground that were really making his stomach queasy, and it was not a good feeling. The people who lived here were killed brutally and it happened not too long ago. Bilbo wanted to leave. Immediately.

At that moment, Gandalf storms by muttering stubbornness of dwarves and their thinking. Bilbo looked to where he came from and saw Thorin standing in the house barking orders to the others to get started on the fire and to cook food. Bilbo sighed. It was going to be a long night and even worse without Gandalf there.

Bilbo went to roll out his bedroll and decided to go wash up in the river that was away from the camp. He started to dress down when another transformation hit him. This time it is one of his other transformations instead of his new one. This time, he turns into his fox form. This form he is most fond of. He runs into the water and his red fur immediately turns into a maroon color because of the darkness of the water. He never wants to turn back when he is in this form, and it is the reason that he did not use this form that much. It could be dangerous for him. His body glides through the water and all he can hear is the water rushing around his ears. He pops back up out of the water, and he hears a splash in front of him and looks up to see a body wading into the almost dark water.

He ducks back down into the water until only his eyes and ears are visible. His green/brown eyes can just pick out the body that is giving him sweats at night and causing his transformations to happen so often. Thorin is walking into the water that he is in. How can he get out of this?

As he tries to swim back out of the water, his body decides it wants to do something else. His fox form starts to transform back into his hobbit form and he knows that Thorin will see if he doesn’t hide soon. He is out of the water and behind a giant rock when his transformation finally hits. Bilbo peaks out from behind the rock and sees Thorin washing his hair out. Droplets are thrown through the air and falling back into the water. It is taking everything in Bilbo to not go over to him and lick the droplets coming off of his chest. Thorin has hair in all the right places and he watches a drop of water slide down his stomach to the hips that drive him crazy and it disappears into the water.

Bilbo isn’t certain if he is sad by the fact that he can’t see beneath the water or happy since it gives him something to look forward to. Thorin is one hell of dwarven specimen and Bilbo cannot wait to be able to mate with the dwarf. In all of his years of living, he has never been this attracted to another being. This must be his true mate for it to hit him this hard. He has never lain with another man before or anyone else before. Shifters are a group that doesn’t believe in sleeping with others just for pleasure. They want to make sure that their first time is with their mate and no one else. They are a very secretive group and don’t normally talk to other people, but since Bilbo is the last of his kind, he needs to talk to other people to understand the things going on in the world.

Bilbo watches Thorin more as the dwarf runs his hands through his hair to get the tangles out. The dwarf turns away from him and the water moves just right to where Bilbo can see his finely shaped ass. Bilbo bites his lip to keep from making any noise as he watches his ass in the moonlight and looks up to the sky.

‘ _Thank you gods for giving me this man!’_ Bilbo couldn’t be happier with his mate and couldn’t wait to actually mate with him. The only problem is telling Thorin about his abilities. Most people in Middle Earth do not like shifters because they can change shape and they do not know which shape is their true shape. They generally view it as lying to them because they don’t know the true you. Shifters only show their mate the true them because it is seen as a sacred part of a shifter. Bilbo might be the only one left, but he is still going to uphold his race traditions.

Bilbo leans forward more to get a better look at Thorin and his foot breaks a twig. Bilbo freezes as Thorin looks in the direction of Bilbo, but he is able to hide behind the rock before he can be seen. He hears Thorin splashing around, probably trying to get back to land to get his sword, but Bilbo knows he is not in danger.

Thorin brandishes his sword and stands next to the lake looking out to where Bilbo is and he swears he saw red hair when he looked up at the sound of something breaking. He can’t find the reason for that noise and decides to end his bath since he is already out of the water. Bilbo looks back around the rock to see Thorin and this time there isn’t water to hide him. Bilbo is able to see everything and he likes what he sees. The dark hair that is across his chest that Bilbo would love to run his hands through and the muscles rippling that causes his heart to flutter at the sight. Before Bilbo can see the one part he does want to see, there is a huge crash in the trees. Bilbo turns to it and he sees a troll walking through the woods carrying Mertle and Mimsy in his big arms.

Thorin rushes putting his clothes on after he sees the troll and runs back to camp to warn the others. Bilbo decides it’s time for him to go back to camp as well, but before he can do so a hand grabs him from behind the rock. As he is being lifted into the air, he is pounding on the fist that has him and kicks his feet trying to get free.

“Well look at what we have ‘ere.” The troll says.

The troll carries him to the other trolls around a fire, “Look what I found here boys!”

“Oy! What is that?” One of the others ask.

“I-I’m a burgl-hobbit. I’m a hobbit!” Bilbo stammers out.

“A burglar-hobbit? Never heard of that. Can we eat him?”

“I beg your pardon! No you cannot!” Bilbo squirms in the grasp more and decides to transform into his otter form to get away.

Bilbo slides out of the troll’s hand and scurries across the leaves as the trolls try to grab him. He just gets behind a tree when the dwarves pop out of the brush the trolls were standing at. Bilbo catches his breath as he watches the dwarves slash at the trolls. The trolls are slow and cannot grab any of the guys, but he knows the big hands might be able to grab something. He watches as Ori is picked up, but Dwalin cuts the arm of the troll holding him. The trolls’ blood is all over the swords and axes of the group that they surely should be weakening, but the trolls are still going strong. Bilbo transforms back and rushes out to help the group, but when he runs out he is grabbed by another giant hand.

“Lay down your arms! Or we’ll rip his off!” The trolls hold him above the group and they throw down their weapons, but they don’t look happy to do it.

Moments later, they are in scratchy sacks and the dwarves are shouting at the dwarves that have the rest of the group rotating above the fire they had going. Bilbo is laying behind the group in his sack and realizes that he needs to shift in order to save them. He knows talking will do no good with these trolls, but at least he’s behind the group and he can change without anyone, hopefully, noticing. Bilbo looks around and does not see any of the dwarves looking in his direction so he decides to shift. He shifts into his snake form which is covered in gorgeous dark red-brown spots with his stomach being a dark yellow color. He slides across ground to where the trolls are and he does the one thing he doesn’t want to do. The trolls are standing next to the fire and just talking when Bilbo wraps his body around the foot of the troll named Bert. He feels the hairs and coarseness of the foot beneath his body and it takes everything in him to not shiver at the feeling. Bilbo bites the troll’s foot, releasing venom into the troll and drops off his foot when the troll starts screaming and hopping around the campfire.

He quickly slithers back to his sack and transforms back. This time he can feel his muscles and bones crack and shift into his being. He shifted too many times in such a short amount of time and his body is torturing him for it. He breathes through the pain and sweat beads across his forehead. He has not changed that many times in a while. His body can feel each of his transformations and he is paying for it. He’s looking over at the troll that is jumping around and he bumps into the spit that has the dwarves on it making it hit the ground. There are no dwarves where it lands and he doesn’t have to worry about any of them being injured. The troll falls after bumping into the spit and falls into the fire, catching fire himself. Bilbo watches as the fire eats away at his skin and melts it away with the troll screaming.

Bilbo can hear Ori gasping close by and feels bad for the young dwarf at having to see this happening in front of him. “Ori, don’t look,” Bilbo tells him and he notices the dwarf turn his head to look at Bilbo. He looks at the dwarf, “You don’t need to look at that.”

“Hey!” William stomps over to their group on the ground. “Which one of you did that to my brother?!”

“How could have we done anything? We’re tied in sacks,” Bilbo answers and moves to show the troll that none of them had moved to hurt his brother. The troll growls at Bilbo and steps closer to pick him up, but before he can he hears Gandalf behind the troll.

“The dawn will take you all!” Gandalf breaks the rock and sunlight filters through, and it turns the trolls into stone.

Bilbo sighs a breath of relief and Gandalf walks over to release them from their sacks. Bilbo stretches and flinches at the pain in his bones. The rest of the group starts gathering their weapons and armor while Bilbo watches from afar. As he is watching, Ori walks over to him and Bilbo gives him a small smile, “What can I do for you Ori?”

The young dwarf looks at him sheepishly and smiles back, “I wanted to thank you for distracting me with that troll.”

Bilbo puts his hand on his shoulder, “Of course, one as young as you does not deserve to see something like that. There will be a time for that, but that time is not now.”

Ori nods at him and walks back over to Dori as he calls for him. Dori runs his hands over Ori to make sure that there isn’t anything wrong with him and to make sure he doesn’t have any cuts or bruises.

Bilbo walks back to the camp as the others walk off to the hoard of the trolls. While he is walking the horses over to the area, he lets them stay a little bit away from the where the hoard is and the smell won’t scare them off. While he is walking up to the giant cave, Gandalf walks out and hands him a sword. Bilbo holds his hands up, “I don’t need that Gandalf.”

“It is better to have it and not use then then not to have it and need it.” Gandalf lays the sword in his hands. “This sword is of Elvish make and will glow blue when near goblins and orcs. You may need it in the future.” Bilbo sighs and hooks the sword to his waist.

Bilbo hears the other dwarves coming out of the cave and can’t help but look up as Thorin comes out. He makes eye contact with Thorin and looks down immediately after.

‘ _Stop acting like a teen getting their first crush!_ ’ Bilbo blushes and scratches at something invisible on his clothes.

Bilbo’s ears can make out a song rushing through the woods when Radagast bursts through the trees close by. Bilbo watches as Gandalf takes the brown wizard to the side and talks to him. Bilbo is very curious to what is going on and sneaks away from the rest of the group to transform into his ferret form to try and catch what they are talking about. As he gets closer, the wizards start speaking lower and it must be because Gandalf realizes that Bilbo is no longer standing with the dwarves.

He sighs and turns back to go back to the dwarves, determining that he won’t be able to hear anything. The dwarves are all standing around waiting on the wizards and he looks around to see Ori giving little looks to Dwalin who is sharpening one of his axes. The other dwarf is completely oblivious to the looks that are coming his way and keeps on sharpening his axes. Ori is slightly blushing, but he is also keeping an eye out for his brother. Bilbo watches this interaction and smiles at it. Bilbo feels like he is being watched and looks up to see Thorin looking away from his as he does.

It seems that the dwarf is just as interested in him as he is. It makes Bilbo feel better about the dwarf showing interest in him since he is supposed to be his mate. Bilbo feels his eyes changing and looks away from the rest of the group and looks around the rest of the forest. His new sight is letting him see every detail in the forest along with every animal and bug that is moving around through the trees and along the ground. The colors are vibrant and almost over-stimulating for his senses, but as soon as the sight begins, it ends

Bilbo sighs at the new transformation and turns back to the rest of the group. ‘ _I will be going through this for a while, I need to get used to it_.’

While he is watching Thorin, there is a warg crashing through the woods. Bilbo jumps back as the warg jumps on Thorin and Dwalin and Kili are able to dispose of it. Dwalin helps Thorin up and he shouts for them to get the horses.

“We can’t! They bolted!” Ori shouts down to them from the hill.

Gandalf walks up angrily to Thorin, “who did you tell about your adventure?!”

“No one!” Thorin answers back, getting into his face.

“Who did you tell?!” Gandalf yells back while looking around.

“No one, I swear! Gandalf what is going on?” Thorin looks to his nephews, knowing that the answer that is given will not be a good one.

“You are being hunted.” Gandalf looks at the group as the news of this hits their minds and Bilbo can feel a growl going through his body. Before it can be heard though, he is able to stop it. Shapeshifters do not like being hunted. Since some of his forms are predators, it doesn’t sit well with him that HE is the one being hunted.


	4. More Transformations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it has been a while, I have been super busy since my last chapter and hopefully can start posting more! >.<  
> I know that it is super short, but I felt like posting something instead of making everyone wait longer. 
> 
> Disclaimer: Do not own the characters or book/movie  
> Not beta read!

Radagast takes off to drive the orcs away from the group as they run along the hills and rocks.  Bilbo runs as fast as he can to get to the next rock as he lets his ears transform into that of a wolf’s so that he can listen for any change in the orcs’ direction. They hide behind a rock and Thorin grabs Ori as he almost runs past the rock into the open the field.

“Ori!” Bilbo grabs Ori and places him behind him to keep an eye on the young dwarf. He hopes that he doesn’t notice his ears and that his hair is long enough to cover them. He doesn’t want to explain about his powers right now.

They start running again as the orcs run by them. They get to another rock when Bilbo hears claws climbing up the rock behind them. Bilbo grabs Thorin’s sleeve and holds his finger up to his mouth as he points above their heads. Thorin nods and looks to Kili to shoot the orc and warg that are above them. Kili readies his gorgeously made bow and turns to the warg. He releases an arrow and the warg falls in between them. Bilbo throws one of his knives into the forehead of the warg, knowing he isn’t dead, but he isn’t able to kill the org before he starts to call for the others that are out there. After they kill the rider, the group starts to run again at the behest of Gandalf his robes billow out behind him while they run to a set of rocks that looks very familiar.

Bilbo lets his ears go back to normal and runs to the rocks that Gandalf disappears into. He turns to yell at the other dwarves who are facing off with the wargs and their riders. “This way!”

The dwarves turn to see him at the rocks, and they give him a confused look because it doesn’t seem like there is anything going on with the rocks. Bilbo sighs and rolls his eyes, “Just come on!” Bilbo yells at them again and this time they start moving to the rocks where they jump down into the hole in between the rocks. Bilbo looks up to see Thorin, Fili, and Kili still standing in the open.

“Kili!” Thorin yells as a worg gets close to his sister-son, but Bilbo is able to throw another knife before it can get too close. Kili turns and grabs his brother along the way to get to Thorin and the rock. They get closer when a warg decides it wants to get bold and runs at them from the side. Thorin is able to cut it down before the boys hop into the hole. After they jump in, Thorin grabs Bilbo’s arm and jumps into the hole with him. They land with Bilbo on top of Thorin and Bilbo blushes at being this close to his mate. He can feel another part start to transform with the close proximity to his mate and rushes to stand up. He goes to stand with Gandalf and hides his face in his robes. Gandalf puts an arm around the hobbit to hide his transformation from the group while they help Thorin from the ground.

Bilbo can hear arrows flying through the air and thumping into the bodies of the orcs. There is an orc that falls onto the ground in front of them and he can hear the disgust in Thorin’s voice when he says the word “elves.” That meant that Elrond was nearby and hopefully he could slow down the inevitable transformation Bilbo is going through. Gandalf holds onto Bilbo tighter as the dwarves move around the small cave and he strains his ears to hear anything else from above them.

“There is a path that leads somewhere. Do we follow it or no?” Bilbo hears Dwalin asking from further down the cave. He hears the other dwarves encourage to follow and stays behind with Gandalf as the dwarves run to follow the path that leads exactly where Bilbo believes it does.

“Let me look at you Bilbo,” Gandalf says gently. Bilbo takes his face out of his robes and Gandalf smiles at him. “You’re back to being you.” Bilbo sighs and turns to catch up with his dwarves, but Gandalf stops him.

“You cannot hide this from him forever. He will eventually find out.” Gandalf pats his arm and moves past him and along the path out of the cave. Bilbo knows that he should tell the others, but what do you tell dwarves that are terrified of dragons, that you are becoming a dragon?

Bilbo turns to the direction of the dwarves and hears them talking before he sees them. Gandalf is telling Thorin that he will do all the talking when it comes to Elrond, and that is most likely for the best anyway. Thorin turns as he sees something out of the corner of his eye and sees Bilbo coming out of the cave with a strange look on his face.

“Let’s go Halfling. Don’t need you falling behind.” Bilbo huffs and sends Thorin a glare before walking slightly faster to catch up. It wasn’t his fault that Gandalf stopped him in the caves.

When he gets to Thorin’s side, he stops and looks up at him, “I am not half of anything, thank you. And you would do well to remember that.” He keeps moving and catches up to Gandalf as he walks down the stairs to Rivendale.

Bilbo can hear the boys laugh at Thorin’s befuddled face, but he doesn’t turn around to see it himself. That dwarf can be infuriating sometimes and he deserves a kick in the pants when he can get one, or he will be even more infuriating to live with after this. He glances up to Gandalf to see him smiling about what just transpired and Bilbo found himself smiling as well. Bilbo might be small, but he is not about to be looked down on.

He keeps moving down the stairs and he can hear the birds singing in the valley and it is starting to calm his nerves down after talking to Thorin. The dwarf could get his blood boiling and one of these times, his transformation might just come out because of it. As he gets to the archway, he sees an old friend. “Glorfindel!”

The blonde elf turns around to see Bilbo rushing up to him and he smiles at the hobbit. “Hello old friend. It is great to see you out and about again.” Bilbo smiles up at the elf and shakes his head.

“You know you don’t have to be so formal with me. I am one of your oldest friends.” Bilbo whispers the last part because he doesn’t want the dwarves really knowing how old he actually is. “What has been going on the past few years that I haven’t been around?”

Glorfindel smiles softly, “I believe that will be a conversation for another time. Lord Elrond will be here at any time now.” Gandalf chooses that moment to walk up to the two and nods his head in Glorfindel’s direction, “And just might where Lord Elrond be?”

Before he can answer, a trumpet is heard coming from across the bridge and Bilbo turns around to see horses galloping across with Lord Elrond riding atop a gorgeous dark brown horse. His is so different from the other white horses that the other elves are riding and Bilbo can’t help but smile and Elrond wanting to stick out a little bit from the others. He dismounts and hands off an orc weapon to another elf before coming and standing with Gandalf.

“It is strange to see orcs so close to our borders.” Gandalf and Elrond hug each other after not seeing each other in years and Gandalf chuckles. “Yes, that was most likely us.”

Elrond turns to see the dwarves that are standing in front of his group and nods. Bilbo notices that the dwarves are staring at him weirdly, but then he remembers that he just ran up to an elf and they don’t like elves from the look of things. He sighs and doesn’t move to rejoin the group. Let them think whatever they want. He is too old to be dealing with children that don’t like someone who is willing to help them along the journey.

“Ah, Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain. I knew Thror as he ruled Erebor.” Thorin looked up at him skeptically, “He made no mention of you.” Bilbo sighed at his tone.

Elrond invites the dwarves to his home in elvish, but unfortunately they didn’t understand what he meant and they almost started a fight with elves. “They are inviting you for food and shelter!” Gandalf amends and the dwarves mutter to each other which just makes Bilbo roll his eyes. They accept their offer and the dwarves all are shown their rooms.

Bilbo is shown his room that he used when he was here before and nothing had changed. His books were still on his shelf and his bed was still big enough for all of his forms, but probably not for this next one. He sits down on the bed and thinks about what to do for his new form because it is going to cause issues in the future when his transformations start to get bigger and more frequently. He starts to think about what Thorin would think about it and starts feeling nervous about it. He knows the dwarves don’t like dragons especially since one took their home, but how would they feel about a friend becoming one? Could he even call himself their friend? They barely acknowledge that he is there except when he gets into trouble.

Then he feels his body start to change again. This time it has spread from his hands to the right side of his face. He gets up quickly to look into the mirror to see half of his face has turned into an auburn scale color with small spikes coming from the back of his jaw, a horn coming out of the top of his head that curls a little towards the end, and his eye is also the color of gold and glows in certain lights. He turns his head to see small shiny flakes in his scales that sparkle in the light and they sparkle in a rainbow of colors along the mirror and wall. He smiles to himself in the mirror when he notices that his mouth is filled with razor sharp teeth and fangs. He knows that when he fully turns into a dragon that he will not be small. Dragons themselves are not small and he know when that happens that he will need to have a big enough space to do his final transformation. The only problem: he does not know when that will happen.


	5. Pranks and Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness! An update so close after the last one?! Yep!
> 
>  
> 
> disclaimer: I do not own the hobbit or any characters.  
> not beta read

**Chapter 5**

Bilbo is preparing for bed when he hears something outside of his room. No one in the group knows where his room is, but he pokes his head out to see Kili and Fili giggling at each other and looking down at the other end of the hallway.

‘ _Oh no, what did they do?’_ Bilbo thinks to himself as he transforms his eyes and ears to that of a wolf’s. The heightened senses will help him hear more of what they are saying and maybe able to see down the hallway far enough to see what they had done.

“Did you see the look on his face?” Kili giggles at his brother and grabs onto Fili’s arm as he points back in the direction they are looking.

Fili laughs along with him and nods at his brother’s question. Just then Bilbo can hear a yell being heard throughout the palace. Bilbo freezes at hearing this noise and promptly shifts back and closes his door quietly, not wanting to hear more of the yells. As he closes the door, however, he can hear the boys yelp and footsteps quickly running down the hall. After their footsteps fade down the hall, he can hear another set stomping the same way they went. He smiles to himself about how much trouble the boys are going to get into, but he isn’t sure which dwarf it was that they played a prank on.

Bilbo shrugs and pulls out a book from his bookshelf before he settles among the blankets upon the bed. He is reading for a little while before he hears something else going on outside of his door. He sighs and transforms his ears once more and listens to what is going on outside while he is trying to read!

“Now, calm down Dwalin. You know how they can get.” That is Balin’s voice. Then the dwarf they played a prank on had to be Dwalin.

“I know! But they didn’t have to go and do this!” Dwalin roars the last bit and Bilbo can’t help but wonder what they did to Dwalin. He hears them walk off down the hall once more and transforms back. He smiles a little thinking about the tricks the boys have played before, but nothing was ever too bad where it would anger another that bad.

 

**_ ~FLASHBACK~ _ **

Bilbo watches as Kili walks up to Bofur and places a lizard of some sort on his hat. He smiles at the act and waits until the older dwarf notices what he just did. They are walking along the forest when Bofur decides to finally take off his hat to wipe away the sweat along his forehead when he feels something weird on his hat. He grabs his hat from his head forcefully and yells when he sees the lizard. He drops his hat and glares up at the boys.

“Boys! Really?” They just look at him with innocent eyes and shrugs at him before they continue walking through the forest, snickering along the way. Bofur growls at them a little while Bifur bends down to get the lizard off of his cousin’s hat. Apparently, Bofur does not like lizards.

That is going to be interesting when they are going up against a GIANT LIZARD, but Bilbo keeps his mouth shut at this. Bofur thanks his cousin and places his hat back onto his head. He shakes his head at their antics and goes back to walking among the group, staying away from the two boys this time.

The other time the boys had pulled a prank was on poor, little Ori.

The youngest dwarf is sitting on a rock, drawing more pictures into his book when Bilbo notices Fili walking up quietly behind him. Bilbo looks around to see that no one is paying attention to what the dwarf is about to do to the youngest member of their group and just shakes his head.

 _‘You would think that they would want to keep an eye on the two of them considering the pranks they like to, obviously, pull on others.’_ Bilbo watches Fili pulls a spider from behind his back and watches with wide eyes as he places it on Ori’s journal notebook.

He gets up to put a stop to this, but he is too late because Ori heard him move and looks towards him. Unfortunately, that is also in the direction his notebook is and he sees the big spider among his things. He screams and scrambles off the rock as fast as possible. The other dwarfs hear him scream and get up to aid him should he be in trouble.

When they notice that there isn’t any real big trouble they look to the two pranksters. They are looking anywhere but at the group and whistling a tune. Ori stands on the other side of the rock, but he won’t go anywhere near his stuff. He looks about ready to cry when Dwalin goes to his notebook and picks it up. He dumps the spider off in the forest well away from the group and hands Ori it back.

Ori looks up at the big dwarf, “Thank you, Mister Dwalin.” Dwalin smiles a tiny smile, “Anytime, little one.” He turns and heads back to his seat close to the fire, but now he is sitting where he can watch the two pranksters and keep an eye on Ori. Bilbo watches this with a smile among his face at what he was able to see and can feel something blooming between the two dwarves, but he is going to keep out of it for now. He goes back to taking care of one of the rips in his jacket and hums a song to himself as the group goes back into their normal, talkative selves.

**_ ~END FLASHBACK~ _ **

Bilbo wakes up to the sounds of birds chirping outside of his window and smiles at the sound. The bed was a great reprieve from the hard forest ground that they have been sleeping on and his back is thanking the elves for it. Before Bilbo can even get out of his bed, there are two dwarves barging into his room. And without even so much as a knock!

“Kili! Fili! What are you two doing?” He asks. They turn with a surprised look on their faces, “Bilbo? This is your room?” Bilbo nods and raises his eyebrows at the two youngsters.

“Well, you see…” Fili starts with a hand going up behind his head. His eyes shift towards his brother and lets out a small chuckle.

“You see, Bilbo, we kind of played a prank on Dwalin and now he is a little angry with us.” Kili finishes for him.

“Is that what I heard yesterday while you two were out in the hall? Was that Dwalin yelling?” They nod sheepishly at him and he shakes his head at the two.

“What did you two do this time?” They both look at him sitting his bed and run to jump on the bed. They sit down with him while crossing their legs and smiling at him.

“We sort of, might have…uh…colored some of his clothing.” Bilbo’s eyes go wide at hearing this and puts his hand over his mouth.

“What color?” He is almost afraid to know the answer to the question.

“It was pink.” Kili answers while grimacing at the thought of what Dwalin is going to do to them once he actually finds them.

“Boys, I know you like to play your pranks on others, but maybe that one could have been not done. You know how Dwalin likes his darker colors.” They look down, ashamed at what they had done, but there is no changing back what they did do.

“We know, Mister Boggins, but you see he was going to make us practice while we were here and we just wanted a break.” Kili spoke to him while his head was still down.

Fili looks up, “And we thought, that if he was spending all his time trying to fix his clothes, then we wouldn’t have to train.” Bilbo sighs.

“You do know that he is probably going to make you train twice as hard now because he most likely knows it was you two?” They pale at that and shook their heads.

Just then, there is a yell down the hallway, “BOYS!” That is Thorin’s voice this time and not Dwalin’s. He looks at the two younger dwarves seated on his bed and raises his eyebrows. “Please don’t tell me you did something to Thorin.” They shook their heads no and Bilbo lets out a relieved sigh.

“He’s probably looking for us because of Dwalin.” Fili explains and they can hear Thorin’s footsteps coming down the hall. As they get closer, the boys look more and more scared, but the footsteps continue past his door and they sag in relief at not being found.

“Boys, you can’t stay here. I do want to get ready and join the rest of the group.” They nod sadly and quietly make their way towards the door. They open the door with a squeak and as they do Thorin hears them from down the hall. He turns around and sees them sprinting off in the opposite direction. He sighs and rubs his forehead at the antics of his two nephews. He walks off in the direction they ran off into. He gets to the door they came out of and freezes at seeing Bilbo undressing in the room.

He can’t seem to take his eyes off of the small form of the burglar. There are scars littering his chest and a practically nasty scar that goes from his neck to his navel as if someone tried to gut the hobbit. Thorin feels anger at this and almost goes into to check on the hobbit when he stops himself. The hobbit is humming a tune to himself and turns around where his back is facing Thorin now. There are more scars on his back and it looks like someone had given lashes to the small form. He feels more anger boiling inside of him at the sight of these scars.

Why did Bilbo not tell the group about his scars? Why did he not tell them about horrors he must have gone through to get scars like that? Thorin already knows the answer. It’s because he doesn’t trust the company enough to divulge that kind of information.

Before he can be seen by the burglar, Thorin quietly continues walking in the direction of his nephews. His anger towards the two has dissipated, but his anger at seeing Bilbo’s scars has not. The halfling shouldn’t be alive with scars like that. There is no telling what Bilbo must have gone through to get scars like that on his body, and Thorin isn’t sure that he wants to know. He wants to know though so that he can find the person who did that to such a small creature and demand answers.

He continues walking down the hall at a slower pace with thoughts of Bilbo’s scars in his mind. There is no way that he will be able to get it out of his head. Even he did not have such scars, and he is a hardened warrior of his race. Heck, even Dwalin didn’t have that many scars and he had taken some of the hits meant for Thorin in battle. He shakes his head to try and get rid of the thoughts. He hears footsteps and looks up to see the blonde elf that Bilbo ran up to yesterday when they arrived with a tray of food. The elf gives a small nod in his direction and Thorin returns it even though he doesn’t care about these elves, but they are assisting them with their quest.

 

** ~Back with Bilbo~ **

Bilbo gets his clean shirt over his head when he hears an elf clear their throat in his doorway. He looks to see Glorfindel standing there with a small smile on his face along with a tray of food!

“Old friend, it is good to see you so happy this morning.” Bilbo laughs at his friend’s words and shakes his head at him.

“Well, I am not sleeping on the ground so it is a fantastic morning!” He smiles at the elf again and Glorfindel walks into his room.

“How are you Bilbo? It has been so long since we have last spoken.” He sets the tray down on Bilbo’s table and after sitting down starts to eat a strawberry from the plate.

“I am good. I ah…I finally met my mate.” Glorfindel chokes a little at the news his friend just dropped on him.

“I see. And who would that be?” He’s not sure if he wants to know.

“It is Thorin Oakenshield.” Bilbo replies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no! The truth is out! Kind of, but only Glorfindel knows. Hehe. ^-^ What will he say about his Bilbo's mate?


	6. The Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am on break now and I will be able to upload more! I hope you enjoy this chapter! ^-^ 
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: don't own any characters

Glorfindel looks at Bilbo with wide eyes, knowing the dwarf that Bilbo is talking about. The dwarf is stuck up and very stubborn. Someone that Bilbo does not need to be seeing.

“Are you sure?” Bilbo nods and blushes a little, looking off to the side.

“How?” Glorfindel questions.

“I am going through the mating transformations. They are getting more frequent every day. And I am turning into the one thing he hates the most.” At this point, the transformation starts to happen and his eyes change to their dragon-yellow color.

Glorfindel nods and ‘hmm’s’ to Bilbo, knowing that anything he says will not help his friend. Bilbo sighs and sits down at the table with the blonde elf, and he puts his face in his hands. Bilbo is thinking of all the things that could happen when Thorin finds out about him being a shapeshifter and then his latest shift.

“He doesn’t even know I’m a shapeshifter!” Bilbo looks up at the elf and places his hands on the table. Glorfindel places one of his hands on Bilbo’s and squeezes it lightly.

“Do not fret. I know that no one could hate you. If he does then there is something wrong with him.” Glorfindel pushes the plate of food closer to the hobbit, and he watches as Bilbo takes a strawberry and starts munching on it.

There is a knock on the door and Bilbo takes his hand from the elf and turns to the door. “Come in.” Elrond’s head pops in the doorway with his brown long hair swinging with the look.

“Good morning, Bilbo.”  Bilbo smiles and looks at the elf in the doorway. “Elrond! It is so great to see you!” Elrond steps into the room and smiles at the hobbit and Glorfindel.

“Your dwarves are definitely something.” Elrond laughs a little and Bilbo blushes at what they dwarves might have done.

“What have they done?” Bilbo asks cautiously.

“They have decided to take a bath in the fountain.” Bilbo groans at this information and feels embarrassed for the antics of his group. How could they do that to their gracious host? Especially when someone showed them the baths the day before.

“I am so sorry. I did not know that they would do something like that.” Elrond just waved him off.

“Do not fret about it. It is like have children around again. Even if some of them are in their adulthood.” Elrond chuckles and sits at the table with the other two and grabs a grape.

“How are you Bilbo? I know we have not spoken much since you have arrived.”

“I am fine.” Bilbo lies. Why did he just lie to one of his friends?

“Bilbo, I know that you are not telling me the full truth.” Elrond’s smile dims a little, knowing that the hobbit lied to him about his condition.

“Um…actually I have found my mate.” Bilbo mumbles the last part, knowing that Elrond has been wanting Bilbo to find his mate for a while. He really did not like the hobbit being alone in this world.

“That is fantastic news! My guess is that it is one of the dwarves that you came with.” Bilbo nods and starts chewing on a piece of bread.

“I am delighted to hear that you have finally found your mate. I know that you have been waiting centuries for this to happen, but yet I feel hesitance on your side with your mate.”

Bilbo finishes his bread and looks between Glorfindel and Elrond. This time he doesn’t fight his shift. He hears the two elves gasp as his face shifts into that of a dragon’s and Glorfindel takes one of his hands in his own. They are staring at his new looks with shock and awe, and they both look scared but fascinated by it.

“I see now why you are hesitant.” Elrond states and Bilbo’s face shifts back.

“I am trying to control it more, but the more I am around him then the more I lose control. I know at one point it is going to happen and I am unable to catch it. It has already happened way more than I like.” Elrond nods knowingly at his old friend.

“While you are here, try to be around him more so that if something does happen then you know that you have friends around you that will protect you.” Bilbo’s face pales at the thought of his old friends and new friends fighting because of his shifting.

Bilbo takes his hand from Glorfindel and stands up from the table, “I can’t do that! He doesn’t even know that I am a shifter!”

“Then you must tell him. It is better that he knows now than later.” Elrond tells him calmly.

“He already distrusts me as it is! He already thinks that I am unfit for this quest! I saved his ass against trolls and yet he still thinks I can’t do this quest!” Bilbo stands there fuming after the yelling and Glorfindel looks at him.

“Maybe, if he knows that you are a shifter then he might feel better about you being on this quest. He might not like you being on this quest because he already cares for you and that is his way of showing it. He probably hopes he can push you back home and into safety. Not out in the wilderness being hunted.”

Bilbo growls at the thought of being hunted again and starts to shift into his wolf form. His wolf form is one of the very few forms that does not take on his hair color. He figures it is because it is safer to be pure black than to be the red color of his hair. He pads around the room growling every now and then at the two elves in the room if they start to move.

“Now Bilbo, this is not very nice of you to do.” Elrond looks at him calmly and sighs his discontent. Bilbo chuffs at him and lays down beside the elf suddenly feeling the anger drain out of him. He didn’t want to go back into his hobbit form and felt content to being in his current form.

The two elves look at each other, but they stay where they are at knowing that their friend needs company right now and not wanting to leave him alone in his current state. “Bilbo, you will eventually need to tell your mate that he is your mate and that you are a shifter.” Glorfindel tells him while Elrond pets Bilbo’s ears.

Bilbo growls unthreateningly and the elf just laughs. “I think that was his way of telling you no. But he is correct Bilbo. If you do not tell him sooner rather than later then it is going to just get harder from here.”

“I know that Thorin is not the most agreeable of dwarves, but I do not believe that he would send you away for this secret you are hiding from him.” Elrond looks at the blonde elf while still petting Bilbo’s ears.

“Thorin is his mate?” Glorfindel nods and Elrond looks at Bilbo with sad eyes. “Bilbo, you need to tell him now. He already harbors hate for the dragon that lies within his mountain, but if you think it will get better the closer you get to it then you are mistaken. This needs to happen soon.”

Bilbo looks up at the elf with a stern look in his eyes and ducks his head underneath his snout underneath his crossed paws. “You cannot hide from this. If you don’t tell him then it is going to get out and it will be so much worse. I know it took a while for you to tell us about your abilities because of your past, but he is your mate. He deserves to know.”

Bilbo growls and hops up from his spot on the floor, again prowling around the room. Bilbo still remembers the pain from his past. Even now, his back was twinging with ghost pain of the past. He whines and shifts back into his hobbit form.

“I don’t know what to do.” He says with tears brimming in his eyes. “I can’t go back to that kind of pain.” Glorfindel gets up, sits on his knees in front of the hobbit and gathers him in his arms.

“We would never allow that to happen again. You know that you will always have our protection and we will never let that happen to you again.” Bilbo smiles at the thought.

“Yes, I know, but you were not around when I got taken the first time.” Glorfindel gives him a pained look and hugs him tighter. Bilbo pats the elf on the back, knowing he brought up bad memories, but it was the truth. Bilbo did not know these elves when he got taken the first time. These were the elves that helped him after that, but they could not stop what happened after that. Bilbo shivers at the thought and starts to hug the elf when he feels another hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Elrond’s solemn face and knows that these elves will stop anyone from harming him again.

 

** ~With Ori~ **

The dwarf gasps as he sees Bilbo shift into a big black wolf that is too big for such a small creature. He would not have believed it if didn’t see it with his own two eyes. He watches in the crack of the door as the wolf prowls around and growls at the two elves that are in the room. He couldn’t believe that Bilbo could do this the entire time! He felt betrayed by not being told this, but he also knew why as he started listening in on the conversation the elves were having.

Bilbo had gone through so much. He hears them mention Thorin and listens in more. Apparently, Thorin is his mate! Ori gets a little giddy with this information because he knows that Bilbo would be great for their leader. As he keeps listening, he starts to understand more of why Bilbo does not want to tell the group. There isn’t enough trust between Bilbo and the group.

_‘And how could there be? All they have done all along is look down on him?’_ Ori watches the three huddled on the floor and decides to go away for a little bit before he returns to talk to Bilbo. He will not tell anyone of what he saw until he talked to the shifter himself. Ori knows that the hobbit would not do anything that could hurt the group because his mate is amongst them.

He knows the group will be safe without that kind of knowledge for now, but the elves are right. Bilbo needs to tell Thorin. And the rest of the group.

 

** ~Back with Bilbo~ **

The group gets off of the floor and they continue eating from the fruits, cheeses, and bread that are on the tray. The conversation goes to a much happier conversation about what all has happened since the last time Bilbo was able to see them. There are many things that he missed out on and Elrond talks of the twins and their mischief.

They talk through the rest of the morning when there is a knock on the door. Bilbo can smell the dwarf before he enters and smiles. He gets up from his seat and lets one of the younger dwarves in the company in.

“Ori! It is so good to see you lad!” Bilbo smiles at him and Ori smiles shyly back.

“Good afternoon Bilbo. I was wondering if I could maybe draw you…um, you know for the quest and all that.” Ori holds up his journal and looks at the hobbit with those puppy dog eyes that he has never been able to resist. Especially from a young one.

“Of course you can Ori!” Bilbo turns around and sees that the elves are standing from their spot at his table. “Oh! Ori, this is Glorfindel and you have already met Elrond.” Ori waves at the two taller beings and mutters a ‘hi’ to them. They say hello back and even offer a small smile for the shy dwarf in front of them.

“Bilbo, I will come back later to talk to you more. If that is alright with you?” Glorfindel questions while turning to the hobbit.

“I am actually thinking of going out to the gardens this evening. Enjoy some fresh air.”

Glorfindel chuckles and nods his head, “Then I will let you enjoy your evening. Goodbye Master Ori.” The elf bows a little and walks out of the door.

Elrond looks back to the hobbit and dwarf, “Please remember what we talked about.” Bilbo nods at him and bows his head at his friend. “Have a good night, to you both.”

Bilbo looks to Ori and sees the dwarf sitting at the seat Glorfindel occupied not too long ago. He sets out his pencils and looks at Bilbo expectantly. Bilbo laughs and walks over to the dwarf before setting himself in his own seat. He watches as Ori fans through his previous drawings of the company, the land they have seen, and even some of the scarier things that they have seen so far along their journey.

Ori finally gets to a blank page and looks to Bilbo who is smiling back at the young dwarf. He smiles back and starts to draw Bilbo.

“Um, Bilbo. I didn’t come here just for this. I wanted to talk to you about something else.” Bilbo nods and waits on the dwarf to elaborate.

“I saw you earlier,” he hears Bilbo gasp but continues on, “I won’t tell anyone! I just want to know more about you!” He looks up to see Bilbo frozen to the spot and he has lost all of his color. It looks like pure terror in the hobbit’s face.

What has he done?


	7. What Now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! I know It has been a while! I wanted to post something so that you knew that I didn't abandon this fic! I know it is a little shorter than I normally have them, but I promise I will try to post more! 
> 
> Enjoy

“Bilbo, please, I did not mean to startle you. I just want to know more. I honestly will not tell anyone.” Ori begs Bilbo.

Bilbo looks at Ori’s big, wide eyes and sighs to himself. There isn’t anything he can say now because Ori has already seen his other form. “Fine, but you cannot tell anyone. It might be the end of me.”

“Bilbo, I don’t think anyone would have a problem with it.” Ori grabbed Bilbo’s hand and held it.

“I will not budge on this, Ori. Please, respect my wishes.” Bilbo looks at their joined hands and looks at Ori’s wool covered hands.

“Okay, I promise I won’t tell anyone, but if something happens I will protect you.” Bilbo looks up at Ori and shakes his head.

“I can’t ask you to stand against your kin.” Ori tries to argue, but Bilbo just cuts him off.

“What would you like to know?” Ori beams at him, itching to learn more about what he is.

“How many forms do you have?” Bilbo looks around the room to make sure they are not being listened to and goes on to explain more to Ori.

“I have many different forms. I can turn into whatever animal suits me at the time, but I can’t turn into all animals.”

“Is there anything special you can do?” Ori looks like he wants to write everything down, but if he writes things down then someone might find it.

“I am able to turn different parts of my body into an animal if I need it at the time.” To Bilbo, this actually feels nice to get off of his chest. He has been wanting to talk to someone about his powers because he feels guilty about hiding it from the group.

Bilbo turns his ears into that of a wolf and Ori gasps, seeing the hobbit’s ears turn into a wolf’s without even blinking. “That is marvelous!” Ori exclaims loudly. Bilbo puts his hand over Ori’s mouth and shushes him.

“We don’t need anyone else coming in here and finding out.” Ori blushes with guilt and nods. Bilbo removes his hand and sighs. “I have hidden what I am for years Ori. I have been hunted, locked away, thrown out of places, and almost killed. I don’t want that to happen again. I believe that the group might not do anything, but I can’t take the chance that someone will hurt me.”

Ori nods solemnly understanding why Bilbo was hesitant to discuss his powers with the group. Even though his mate was among them.

“Bilbo, you mentioned that you have a mate. What does that mean?” Bilbo freezes at this and doesn’t look Ori in the eyes. It doesn’t seem like Ori knows who it is yet. _‘Thank Yavannah.’_

“It means that someone in the group is my other half. They are the one that calms my animal side. They are the only one that could kill me with only a few words.” Ori cocks his head to the side at this, but doesn’t push Bilbo for further information.

“They are the one that can bring about a mating transformation, and a mate can only bring this about. Ori, if they find out what my mating shift is then they would hate me forever.” Ori isn’t sure what his shift is, but knows that Bilbo needs comfort from whatever is plaguing him. Ori pats Bilbo’s shoulder and crouches down a little to look at Bilbo in the face. He has gone pale and is shaking, but he is still Bilbo.

“No one will hate you. They will understand.”

“No they won’t!” Bilbo yells. Unfortunately, this brings out his mating shift and his eyes and claws shift into the dragon.

Ori backs away from Bilbo at the shocking transformation and holds a hand to his mouth. “Can’t you see?! This is what happens! How can I tell Thorin what I am when I am turning into the thing he hates the most?” Bilbo huffs in exhaustion and collapses on the bed.

“Why is only part of you transformed?” Ori asks timidly while picking at the yarn on his gloves.

“That is how the mating transformations work. That is the time for the mates to get to know one another. It is a slow process and gives enough time for the two to learn about each other. The more the mates are around each other the quicker the transformation will happen. I am unsure why my mate is Thorin, but the Valar work in mysterious ways.” Ori smiles at this and looks at Bilbo’s transformed face eyes and hands.

“I think the group would be relieved to find out that you can transform. They would rely on you for more things.”

“It’s fine Ori. I am happy with the way things are now. I know that the group thinks that I am unable to do things because all they see is a hobbit, but I also like to surprise people.” The two chuckle and Ori sits at the table.

“Well let’s talk about something else.” Ori and Bilbo talk for a while about books without knowing a certain spy has been there the entire time.

 

** ~The Next Day~ **

Bilbo wakes up feeling more refreshed than he ever has and leaves his room to find breakfast. What he does find is Thorin and Dwalin practicing in the courtyard. There is sweat dripping off of Thorin’s brow and he does have a shirt on. It looks as if they have been here all morning, but Bilbo can appreciate the view. He feels his shift starting to happen but can’t help but not care at the moment. No one is around to see and the two that are there, are too busy hitting each other with wooden swords than to care that they have an audience.

Bilbo watches the two dodge and parry with each other while striking at opportune moments. He watches as they joke around with how to hold their stances. Bilbo has never seen Thorin this way and it makes his heart flutter. His mating side is growling though at another being close to his mate. Shifter mates are very protective of each other and can get very jealous. Bilbo didn’t think they were close enough for this side of him to come out. Apparently, he was wrong.

Thorin freezes after hearing a noise and notices Bilbo off to the side watching him and Dwalin dueling. “Master Baggins.”

Bilbo jumps at his name being called and is happy to feel his transformation going back to normal. At least the two dwarves are too far away to see that his eyes had shifted into a different color. “Yes, Master Dwarf?”

“Are you going to stand there all day?” Bilbo blushed and looks off to the side of Thorin.

“I just heard noises and thought that I would investigate it. I thought someone might be in trouble.” Thorin scoffs.

“And how would you be able to help, Master Baggins?” Bilbo growls under his breath and glares at the king.

“I will have you know, that I am perfectly capable of protecting another.” Thorin stares at the hobbit before getting an idea. He has not seen Bilbo’s skills at combat and now would be a good time to see it.

“Then you must show me.” Thorin looks to Dwalin and the guard nods to stand off to the side of the small circle they had made.

Bilbo walks to where Thorin is and tries not to stare at the dwarf’s chest. _‘Don’t think about what you would rather be doing with him.’_

This would be an awkward fight if he was aroused as well. Although, some mating practices have been known to have fights to show off how well they are able to protect one another. He remembers seeing many when he was young before they were all captured. Bilbo sends those thoughts out of his head and turns to Thorin.

Thorin hands him a wooden sword and Bilbo tries not grab him and pull him the rest of the way. Bilbo shakes his head a little to get his mating thoughts out of his head. _‘This is going to be a long day.’_


End file.
